‘Y Is for Yesterday” is Sue Grafton’s projected penultimate novel in her alphabet series about intrepid California private investigator Kinsey Millhone. And if the series does end with “Z,” it’s going out with even deeper plots and more intense characterizations than when it debuted 35 years ago.
Set in 1989, the theme of this 25th outing with Kinsey could, with a few variations, be set in 2017 with bullies, sex tapes, a cheating scandal and a sense of entitlement among high school students. “Y Is for Yesterday” revolves around the murder of a high school senior by a classmate who was egged on by another student.
From “A” to now “Y,” Kinsey is still the same “single and cranky-minded” private detective she always has been. But Grafton has almost imperceptibly allowed her to grow. She’s opened herself up a bit to relatives she didn’t know she had. She still is close to her landlord, Henry, who also is her surrogate father. And “Y Is for Yesterday” finds Kinsey embracing, almost, a cat and a dog. (It’s a start.)
